November 2024

The AMA recently wrote a submission to the Victorian Skills Authority to support ongoing funding for the Certificate III and IV courses in Musical instrument making and repair at the Northern College of the Arts & Technology (NCAT). We recently heard that this funding has been continued thanks to the efforts of NCAT, Maton Guitars, the AMA, and others.

The AMA argued that we have a shortage of skilled technicians, these courses are well suited to assisting the industry by training workers for manufacturing and instrument making and repair work, and presented data on imports and exports of guitars and other music products, the workforce of musical instrument makers, and new data from our State of the Industry Report. This situation demonstrated immediately (in fact, before the report had been released) the value of collecting industry data through the State of the Industry, which can be used to advocate for the industry’s interests.

The following excerpt from the submission outlining why training is needed and why Victoria is a logical place for this training to be provided.

Why this training matters

These qualifications were established in 2008 and the AMA has advocated for the establishment, accreditation and funding of the courses for all of that time. The objective was to formalise training in musical instrument making, and part of the rationale for the course and the location (in Melbourne) was to train workers for Australia’s instrument manufacturing industry. We consider the rationale for this training to be just as strong now as it has ever been.
These courses prepare professionals for our industry, who may end up working for a manufacturer, working as an instrument repairer or luthier in a repair workshop, and/or establishing their own small business as an instrument maker & repairer.

A major part of the challenge in finding training solutions for our industry is the small cohort of trainees. We understand the challenge in resourcing niche training products but strongly support continued funding and accreditation based on the important role of this training for our industry.

There is no alternative to having people making and repairing instruments, it is essential to the industry and somebody needs to do the work, the difference courses such as this makes is in the quality of formal training and the increased productivity in providing a training solution that addresses industry needs.

The industry is ‘Victoria-heavy’

The AMA State of the Industry Report (2024) estimates the proportion of music retail and wholesale businesses in Australia, and has found that the proportion of both business types in Victoria far exceeds both its population and the proportion of Musical Instrument Makers and Repairers. In other words, the industry is ‘Victoria-heavy’ with wholesalers mostly based in NSW and Victoria (the highest proportion being based in Victoria) and the highest retailer to population ratio of any state. There are more workers in this profession than in other states, but probably not enough considering the proportion of the industry based in Victoria.
The first two columns from the next table (red & black) show data from the most recent Census (2021) for the occupation code Musical Instrument Makers and Repairers (399515) and the population of each state. The next two columns (blue and green) show data from the AMA State of the Industry Report (2024) indicating the proportion of retailers and wholesalers in each state. This, combined with the vast majority of Australia’s musical instrument manufacturing being based in Melbourne, indicates that the music products industry is disproportionately based in Victoria.